Stephen Mangan returns to our screens to present The Fortune Hotel this week, and he’s the perfect fit for the game show set in the Caribbean.
The fact that ITV1 hired him to front this cushty number is proof indeed that he’s one of the UK’s favourite TV stars. Who wouldn’t want to fly to a luxury five-star hotel – the Silversands hotel in Grenada – and watch 20 contestants stab each other in the back?
Of course, The Split fans might know Stephen better as an actor. He played cheating Nathan Stern in the popular BBC drama, opposite Nicola Walker, who played his wife.
In real life, Stephen is married to a very familiar face – a Holby City actress! Here’s everything you need to know about The Fortune Hotel presenter Stephen Mangan, his family life, and what he’s said about the tragic death of both parents.
Who hosts The Fortune Hotel?
Stephen Mangan hosts The Fortune Hotel on ITV1, which starts on Monday, May 13, 2024. It’s a game show very much targeted at those of you who loved The Traitors.
The Fortune Hotel sees 10 pairs of guests arrive at a luxury Caribbean resort to “play a high-stakes game of cat and mouse”. Each of the teams are given an identical briefcase, with eight being empty, one containing £250,000 in cash, and one having the dreaded Early Checkout card that will see a duo leave for good.
The tension lies in how the guests must work out which is which. Can the couple with the money hold on to it? And how will the couple with the Early Checkout double-cross another couple into swapping?
It’s perfectly addictive viewing for a primetime slot, with a range of characters – some likeable, some not. And host Stephen Mangan is clearly loving the drama. It airs Monday to Thursday at 9pm, the continues the week after (with eight episodes in total).
Who is The Fortune Hotel presenter Stephen Mangan?
Firstly, Stephen Mangan is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer, perhaps best known for playing Dr Guilaume ‘Guy’ Secretan in Green Wing, and Nathan Stern in The Split.
He’s a well-respected stage actor, and was Tony-nominated for his portrayal of Norman in The Norman Conquests on Broadway. He’s also starred as Bertie Wooster in Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense in the West End, which won the 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy.
His film roles include Alastair Caldwell in Rush, and Dr Clement Aitken in Breathe. As a presenter, he’s co-hosted Children In Need, Pointless, Landscape Artist of the Year, and Have I Got News for You.
He wrote and appeared in the brilliant Channel 4 comedy series Hang Ups in 2018. He played a webcam therapist, whose patients included the likes of Richard E Grant, Harry Lloyd, Monica Dolan, David Bradley, Jo Joyner, David Tennant and Daisy Haggard.
What has Stephen Mangan been in? What’s he famous for?
Stephen has been on our TV screens ever since 1998, when he played a small role in the film Martha – Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence. He was 30 at the time.
His breakthrough TV role was arguably as Adrian Mole in the six-part BBC series Adrian Mole: The Capuccino Years in 2001. Between 2004 and 2006, he portrayed Dr Guillaume ‘Guy’ Secretan in the brilliant comedy Green Wing, alongside the likes of Olivia Colman, and Sally Bretton.
That same year, he went on to play Robert Compton-Lewis in Jane Hall, before portraying Keith in Never Better, Alex Taylor in Free Agents, and Dirk Gently in the TV series of the same name.
Other notable roles include Dan Moody in I’m Alan Partridge, Leo in Liars and Cheaters, Andrew in Bliss, and Arthur Conan Doyle in Houdini and Doyle.
Between 2011 and 2017, Stephen starred as Sean Lincoln in the Matt LeBlanc comedy Episodes. In 2018, he began playing Nathan Stern in the superb legal drama The Split.
The role seemed to be one Stephen was born for. In real life, he studied Law at Gonville and Caius Collge, Cambridge, before taking a year off to look after his sick mum, Mary. Sadly his mother passed away aged 45, after suffering with colon cancer. Weeks after her death, he then went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) for three years.
Who plays Nathan Stern in The Split?
Actor Stephen plays the role of Nathan in BBC One‘s The Split. Nathan is a barrister and the ex-husband of divorce lawyer Hannah, played by Nicola Walker.
Talking about his role in The Split, Stephen told Independent magazine that it was a “joy” to play something different. He said: “Kenneth Branagh said he deliberately avoided doing any comedy early on in his career, because there’s no status in it. Great actors are ‘serious’ actors.
“Comedy actors, you don’t always get given that status, which is fine, but you’re always looking for interesting work. With The Split, it’s been a joy to do something different. It’s a type of part that I hadn’t really been offered that much – a dramatic, emotional part.”
Is The Split coming back?
BBC One has confirmed that popular legal drama The Split WILL be back for a two-part special, with Nicola Walker returning as Hannah Stern.
Despite fears the show had ended for good, after series 3’s heartbreaking finale, we now know the series will return… And there’s an exciting addition to the cast – Toby Stephens!
After the success of three series of The Split, the hit legal drama will return to our screens to “explore the themes of love, legacy, and modern marriage, through a sparkling cast of characters that audiences know and love”.
Series 3 ended with Hannah and Nathan agreeing to part for good – sob! – after 20 years together, and trying to navigate their way through a “good divorce”. The two-parter catches up with them two years later.
Now, family lawyer Hannah Defoe and her family are back. Viewers will see them gathered together for a beautiful wedding at a magnificent vineyard, nestled in Barcelona’s wine region.
The BBC tells us: “Set across one sun soaked weekend, The Split will encompass break-ups, reunions and like all good weddings, plenty of romance. Can Hannah banish the ghosts of her past and open herself up to the possibility of love again in the Spanish countryside? Can she find the courage to take the leap into a new future?”
Who is The Fortune Hotel presenter Stephen Mangan married to?
Stephen Mangan is married to actress Louise Delamere, 54. They wed in May 2007.
Louise is best known for her roles as Lia in No Angels, and Colette Sheward in Holby City. She played Colette from 2013 to 2014. The character was the Director of Nursing Services at Holby City, and was a “headstrong” and “compassionate” career woman who fiercely defended her team of nursing staff.
She also played the recurring character Marion James in the fifth series of Waterloo Road. More recently, Louise has played Claire Rocchia in Murder in Provence, and Tamara in Motherland.
Does The Fortune Hotel presenter Stephen have children?
Stephen and Louise have three sons: Harry (born October 2007), Frank (born 2010), and Jack (born March 2016).
Their eldest son Harry is currently 16 years of age, with Frank being 13, and Jack now eight.
Where does Stephen Mangan live?
Stephen lives in Primrose Hill, North London, with his wife and three children.
Speaking to ES magazine, he said: “I’ve been in Primrose Hill about 30 years. I live with my lovely family – three boys and a missus. It’s a busy household. I have to do any work before school finishes, when they’ll all pour in and the chaos will begin.”
How old is Stephen Mangan? Where is he from?
Stephen James Mangan was born on 16 May 1968, in Ponders End, Enfield.
He is currently 55 years of age.
The performer was born to Irish parents – builder James and bar worker Mary – and has two sisters, Anita and Lisa. Anita Mangan is a famous illustrator. Stephen and Anita have worked together on the children’s books, Escape the Rooms, The Fart that Changed the World, and The Unlikely Rise of Harry Sponge.
Stephen was privately educated at Lochinver House School for boys in Potters Bar, and Haileybury and Imperial Service College (now co-educational), a boarding school in the village of Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. He won a scholarship which enabled him to be able to attend.
What happened to Stephen Mangan’s parents?
Stephen Mangan has spoken publicly about the premature loss of his mother and father. In 1991, Mary Mangan died of colon cancer, just six months after she was diagnosed. She was 45.
Speaking to the Metro, Stephen said: “The only good aspect of this terrible situation is that you’re given warning someone is dying. You are given the opportunity to say things to the person you wouldn’t have said if they suddenly died in an accident.”
However, he described the treatment as “horrible”, saying: “She really degenerated physically in an alarming way. By the end she was almost skeletal. She didn’t speak for the last two or three weeks. She was incredibly weak. To see someone so healthy – she didn’t smoke, she didn’t drink, she ate well – and 45 years old…”
Fourteen years later, in 2005, Stephen’s father was found to have a brain tumour. Tragically, he also died after just six months. He was aged 63.
Stephen subsequently described how it felt “wrong” that his dad was never able to meet his kids. In an interview with the Guardian, he said: “When Dad got ill, I just thought: ‘Really? Again?’
“He died when I was in my early 30s. We were filming the second series of Green Wing in a real hospital, then I’d go to another hospital to see him. They shut down the whole production at the end so I could be with him, for which I’m incredibly grateful.”
The Fortune Hotel, presented by Stephen Mangan, starts on Monday, May 13, 2024 at 9pm on ITV1.
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